Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1887-04-07
Scientific

Castor oil, dissolved with alcohol and
applied with a sponge. win render draw
transparent and allow Of
in lead pencil or India ink.
Immersion of the paper in alcohol
removes the oil, and the paper becomes
opaque. The alcohol will serve Tor the
next sheet.
A quick drying cement for steam
pipes a be made by mixing one part
sal ammoniac, two parts sulphur and
eighty parts iron dust. II time per-
mits, the following will be found better
Two parts sal ammoniac. n part
sulphur and 200 parts iron dust, and
sufficient water to form a paste.
A Machinist has discovered that by
keeping his turning tools constantly
wetted with petroleum, he was able to
cut metals and alloys with them,
although when the tools were USED
without the oil, their edges were turned
and dulled. The hardest Of steel a
be turned easily if the tools be thus wet
with a mixture of two parts of petrol
cum with one part OF turpentine.
A method has been devised for
transferring a design on a tissue which
is to be embroidered. A mixture IS
made of printers ink, glycerine and
wax and the design is printed in 1t on
to a sheet of paper which has beer
folded, a solution Of stearine and wa'
having been applied between thu
folds. The paper is then placed W
the material upon which the desig-
is to be transferred and is presse,.
over slowly by e of a smoothing
bone.
Late studies on the oyster, by Profes-
sor Moebius, show that out of lao shells
examined. only a very few had any
foreign organism on the right valve
while the rest had spOnges, hydroids
etc, on the left valve. FOrty-three OF
these bore on their left valve the body
to which the spawn fixed itself. The
bottom of an oyster bed formed by ole
oyster shells is not smooth, the younf
ones being fixed obliquely. The RICH
valve may sometimes be protected s.
that embryos of other organisms, e. 6
sponges, cirripedes, etc, may attacI
themselves and grow.
For the detection of arsenic in paper
impregnate the paper with a solutio
of nitre, dry, and bum it on a plat
the ashes are boiled with dilute causti
potash, the liquor filtered, and su
phuric acid and permanganate solutio
added, until no more is decolorisc'
finally the cold filtered liquids treatt
in a flask with zine and sulphuric aci
two papers being placed on the nee
one being impregnated with lead &C
tate. the other with silver nitrate; unle
sulphurretted hydrogen be formed, t
first is not blackened, whilst the secol
is blackened If a%rseniuretted hydrog
be evolved, /. e., If arsenic be present
the paper.
! The length of a fash of lightning
6 generally under estimated. Thelong'
known was measured by NJ. +. Petit,
: Toulouse. This flash was ten and
!. half miles long. Arago once measul
i o series, which averaged from seven
eight miles in length. The longest
i, tervals ever remarked between
flash and the report was ~seventy-t
' seconds, which would correspond w
: O district fourteen miles. Direct
| searches have shown that a storm
seldom heard at a greater distance tn
, seven to ten miles, while the avera
are barely heard over four or five mi
off. This fact is the more curious,
/, cannon may be distinctly heard dou'
| or treble that distance and in spec
4 cases much better
: Engineers pronounce the project
tapping Niagara river by means o.
canal entirely practicable, and expe
: have declared that not elsewhere witt
: the known world are there suchnatu
advantages for the creation of a gig
r tic water power, and that it a
2 delivered at Lockport to the extent
I 100000 horsepower, if so much shall
wanted, at a minimum Of expeI
Lake Erie and all the great upper la
8 would be the mill-pond for this po'
{ the Niagara river the head race
a Lake Ontario its tail race. The sup
of water can never be diminished
draught; no spring floods nor fresl
will tear away the dams. The sur
ofwater will be uniform. uninterrup